Prague – Prague zoo caregivers sometimes have to become puppeteers to save newborn birds rejected by their parents. This was the case of a minor yellow -headed vulture chick born three weeks ago.
The bird caregiver Antonín Vaidl said Thursday that when a false egg disappeared from the nest, he told the caregivers that the parents were not ready to take care of their two babies, despite having done so in 2022 and 2023.
The first born remains in a box and feeds with a puppet designed to imitate a progenitor bird, while another is expected to be born in the next few days.
Vaidl said the puppet is needed to make sure that the bird is able to reproduce, which will not happen if it is customary to human interaction.
He explained that the puppet does not have to be a perfect replica of an adult bird because chick responds to certain signals, such as pale orange coloration in its head and neck without feathers.
The minor yellow head vultures live in the wild in Latin America and Mexico. The Prague Zoo is one of the only three zoos in Europe that raised them.
In the past, the Park successfully applied this treatment to save the Urraca Verde de Java, which is critical of extinction, and two chicks of Rinoceros. The puppet feeding technique is applicable to birds living in pairs.
“The method has been working well,” said Vaidl. “We will see what happens to the vultures.”